False Teachers, Itching Ears, and LGBTQ Inclusion

2 Timothy 4:3 is often used to intimidate people.

S1:E8 EPISODE SUMMARY

This episode is a response to a listener’s request: “2 Timothy 4:3 is an interesting scripture. You should talk about what that one means.” This scripture is often used to intimidate people. In it Paul states, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

Paul was addressing controversies occurring in the early church which he doesn’t explain because Timothy already knew what we happening. The controversy is revealed in later epistles to be whether Gentiles need to be circumcised to become a part of the Church. Paul opposed this Jewish law and reinterpreted the law to address the circumcision to be of the heart. Paul explains that there is no Gentile or Jew, slave or free, because we are all united in Christ. Teachers who interpret Scripture as being opposed to members of the LGBTQIA+ community are not following the guiding principle Jesus lifts up and Paul lifts in Galatians, that we are all one in Jesus.

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